Another was Maria Monk's "Awful Disclosures, " a sensational penny-dreadful which pretended to lay bare the secrets of the lurid life behind the walls of a 19th century convent.

WSJ: Alan Bradley on Writing About an England He'd Never Seen | Traveler's Tale

In this grab bag of narrative trickery, he tells the penny-dreadful tale of the house painter Guy Maddin (Eric Maahs), who is ordered by his mother to return to the island lighthouse where he grew up and give it two coats of paint.

NEWYORKER: Brand Upon the Brain!